The Reluctant Adventurers
by Charlotte1
Summary: Amelia Turner wakes up one morning to find her parents and their guest missing. Unsure of what to do she gets a visit from the most unexpected person: Natalie Sparrow, the unwanted daughter of Jack. Together they must rescue their parents. r


Title: The Reluctant Adventurers  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, except the original characters  
  
Summary: Amelia Turner, the fourteen-year-old daughter of Will and Elizabeth, wakes up one morning to find her house ransacked and her parents missing. Out of her mind with worry and unable to do anything Amelia receives a visit from the most unexpected person: Natalie Sparrow, the thirteen-year-old daughter of Jack. Not exactly enamoured as his role as father, Jack has never been there for the girl, and she spends a lot of her time following him round and tracking him down, that is what brings her to Amelia's doorstep. She tells Amelia that Jack had scheduled a visit to her parents, because he had something urgent to tell them, and she had tracked him as far as Port Royal. Without anything else to go on, the girls decide their parents must be together, wherever they are. Together they make the most unlikely pair, but somehow they must work together to find their parents.  
  
The Reluctant Adventurers  
  
A day of surprises  
  
The sun was high in the sky by the time Amelia Turner opened her eyes. Seeing the time on the clock she suddenly jumped up in bed and immediately wondered why her mother hadn't come to wake her up. She climbed out of bed and wrapped her shawl around herself before heading down into the parlour where her mother could usually be found at this time of the day, but she never made it to the parlour as the second she stepped down into the entrance hall she fell back in surprise. The normally pristine house looked like a tornado had blown through it. Everything was lying on the floor in ruins.  
  
"Mama?" Amelia called out sounding frantic. "Mama where are you?" She ran through the house finding no trace of her parents, but she found that every room was in a similar state. Panting Amelia fell into one of the ripped armchairs in the parlour and stared out into the front garden. Her mind was racing, what was she going to do? "The workshop!" she suddenly exclaimed and jumped to her feet, running out of the house and into the busy noon streets. Everyone stared at the girl as she ran past heading towards her father's workshop. Once she reached it she burst in and found it deserted. Everything seemed in place, except for one thing: Will Turner was nowhere to be seen.  
  
Amelia gulped worriedly and once again fell against the wall, her strength failing her. For a few minutes she got her breathe back and thought hard, but unable to think of what could have happened she headed out of the workshop back up to her home. As she reached the lane her house was on she noticed someone peering in the windows of her house.  
  
"Hey!" Amelia yelled out and she ran up the remainder of the lane and came face to face with a girl slightly younger than herself, looking very well groomed. "What do you want?" she demanded pushing past the girl and into the dishevelled house.  
  
"I'm looking for someone, looks like I'm too late," the girl said sounding annoyed. "I'll be off then!" Amelia spun around and eyed the girl suspiciously.  
  
"Who were you looking for?" she called to her looking around the entrance hall for clues as to what could have happened.  
  
"It doesn't matter now, he'll show up, he always does," she said and she looked in the door. "What you doin'?" Amelia sighed elaborately and turned to face the girl again.  
  
"Who are you?" she demanded.  
  
"My name's Natalie, I don't use my surname around these parts, so if you wouldn't mind, I won't tell you," the girl said.  
  
"Why can't you use it in these parts?" Amelia asked accusingly. " Are you wanted for something, because if you are then you can leave right now!" Natalie smiled and shook her head.  
  
"No not me, it's my dad, he's not really liked around these parts. He told me once he came here about fifteen years ago, he got in a spot of trouble. I think you might have heard about him, he helped your dad rescue your mother," Natalie explained.  
  
"Hey," Amelia said with a sudden smile. "Your father is Jack Sp..."  
  
"No don't say it!" Natalie hissed and she rushed in the house and closed the door behind her. She rushed to the window in the parlour and looked out into the street as if expecting a lynch mob to be parading up it. When she didn't see anything she pulled away from the window and looked back to Amelia. "You've got to be careful, if anyone asks, my name's Smith, Natalie Smith alright?"  
  
"Very original," Amelia grumbled, but she nodded all the same. " Fine, Natalie Smith it is! What was your father doing here anyway?"  
  
"Well he didn't say much to me, I don't normally see him, he tends to get away from me, I've always got to find him wherever he gets to. All I know is he was coming here to warn them about something," Natalie explained, looking down at the broken heirlooms that once lined the hallway. " Looks like whatever it was got here first..." She stopped speaking and looked down at the ground she reached down and picked up a beaded chain.  
  
"What's that?" Amelia asked quickly.  
  
"My dad's," Natalie replied and she dropped the chain to the ground. " Oh well, he'll be fine. He's got nine lives that one! Well, it was nice meeting you Amelia Turner. If you'll be so kind as to not mention me real name till I'm gone, I'll be much obliged!" she said and she turned to open the door.  
  
"No wait!" Amelia called and she reached out to touch Natalie's shoulder. Natalie jerked away.  
  
"What? I can't stay long, I've got to..." Natalie began.  
  
"What can be more important than rescuing your father?" Amelia demanded. To her surprise Natalie burst out laughing.  
  
"Rescue old Jack Sp... Smith? No, he won't want my help!" Natalie said cheerfully.  
  
"Well what about my parents?" Amelia cried and her voice broke. Natalie frowned uneasily and took a step back.  
  
"Look miss, I don't even know where they are," Natalie said looking a little worried by Amelia's emotion.  
  
"But you could find them? You told me you track him down all the time, you must be good at it!" Amelia pleaded. Natalie shook her head.  
  
"Yes maybe, but I'm not finding him now, it's not my place. He got himself into this mess, he can get himself out of it and all!" Natalie said firmly.  
  
"Well why were you trying to find him in the first place?" Amelia asked sounding pained. "Hang on a second, you sound nothing like the riffraff that pass through the port. Who's your mother, you must have been raised by someone proper for a little while?"  
  
"Someone proper," Natalie laughed and she shook her head. " My mother? She's the daughter of a governor on a island quite far from here, much like your mother I suppose. And yes you're right, she did raise me for a long time, and I still go back to see her from time to time, but I'm more of a burden to her. She told her family my dad raped her, even though she loved him," Natalie explained.  
  
"That's terrible, why did she say that?" Amelia gasped. Natalie shrugged.  
  
"She didn't want to be disowned I suppose, even though the whole family have never approved of me. She's married now with two young children. I guess that's why I don't go back anymore. When I was four I met my dad for the first time, I loved his lifestyle and knew that's what I wanted. So I started leaving home and tracking him down. My dad wasn't too happy about that, but I still do it...it's just what I do! But when he's in trouble he's best left to himself! I'm sorry..." Amelia hung her head and a tear trickled down her face. Natalie gulped and looked down at her feet. "But even if I did say I'd help you, we haven't got any way of finding them. We haven't got a boat!" Amelia looked up quickly and shook her head.  
  
"We do! When my parents got married my grandfather gave them a ship as a wedding gift. She's not very big, but she's very fast!" she said quickly. Natalie looked tempted for a moment, but then she shook her head.  
  
"I doubt the two of us could sail her," she said knowingly.  
  
"Yes we could, papa and I have sailed her before with just the two of us!" Amelia countered. "I mean I know you're not my papa, but you must be experienced at sailing!" Natalie shrugged.  
  
"Well I'm experienced, but it takes more than that! I mean we're too...weak...to sail a ship!" Natalie complained. Amelia rushed forward and grabbed her hand.  
  
"Come with me!" she ordered and she dragged Natalie out into the road. The two girls ran down the roads to the harbour wall where finally they came to a stop. "There!" Amelia said pointing out to the smallest ship in the fleet. "We can sail her if we try hard enough!" Natalie's eyes grew wide as she looked at the ship out in the bay.  
  
"W-we-well, it's um, great, but," Natalie stammered and she turned back to the ship. "Oh who am I kidding, it's wonderful, and maybe we could sail it with the two of us, but..."  
  
"You're running out of reasons not to aren't you?" Amelia asked. Natalie turned to look at her with a smug expression.  
  
"Yes except for the fact that I just don't want to!" Natalie countered. " Look if you have this amazing..." Natalie's eyes glazed over and once more she looked out to the beautiful ship in the bay. "Ship, then why can't you find a few friends to help you find your parents?"  
  
"Because they wouldn't know where to look!" Amelia countered sadly, tears threatening to spill again. Natalie sighed and looked away. " What if...what if I gave you the ship after we'd found our parents?" Natalie snapped her gaze onto the other girl and raised her eyebrows.  
  
"You're serious?" she asked incredulously. "I don't think your parents are going to be happy if you give away their ship!"  
  
"For their lives, I'm sure they won't mind that much!" Amelia countered. " What do you say? A ship of your own, that must help tremendously in your line of work!"  
  
"My line of work? What the...I'm not a pirate!" Natalie suddenly countered. "Didn't you hear me, my mother is the governor's daughter, my father is the pirate! I'm exactly like you!"  
  
"My father isn't a pirate," Amelia complained.  
  
"No but his parents were. Look either way, I'm not a pirate, I spend a lot of time living it up just like you." The two girls lapsed into silence and they both looked out at the ship. "Look if you promise me that ship is mine, I'll help you!" Amelia's face split into a wide grin and she lunged at Natalie.  
  
"Oh um okay," Natalie said pulling back. "Your welcome," she said gruffly looking away.  
  
"Thank you so much!" Amelia said wiping her eyes.  
  
"Look I don't even know your name," Natalie said.  
  
"Amelia, my name's Amelia," she said quickly. Natalie nodded and held out her hand. Amelia shook it happily.  
  
"Nice to meet you Amelia," she said and she looked out to the ship again. "This is going to get weird!"  
  
* * *  
  
More to come 


End file.
